§902 Cancellation; investigation before suit

Summary

Before the Attorney General can sue to cancel a land patent or certification, the Department of the Interior must look into any claim that someone bought the land in good faith from the original owner. No cancellation lawsuit can start until the Interior Department finishes that investigation. If the buyer is shown to be a bona fide purchaser (a person who honestly bought the land for value), their title stays in place and the cancellation suit will not go forward. The Secretary of the Interior must then ask that a suit be brought against the original patentee (or the party who benefited from the patent) to recover the land’s value as the law already sets.